Are
you losing your
private medical
practice because you
can’t earn enough to
keep it open? If so,
it’s because you
have never
had a formal
business education!
“They” taught you
how
to practice
medicine, but not
how to run a
business
profitably.

You
can learn these
simple business
lessons on this
site!

Article #55 - Jul. 2014

“Due Diligence Is
Not Something You
Think About,
It’s Something You
Do… You Might
Call It Personal
Analytic Research”

(Part
2 of 2)

Regrets about the
medical practice
situation you have
emotionally decided
to place yourself in,
is just the tip of
the iceberg when it
comes to
disregarding the
most
valuable tool
you will ever have
access to
during
your medical career.

In part 1 of
this article you
found that lack of
adequate diligence
is a sword that cuts
deep into your life
as well as your
medical career. The
real life examples
you read about
demonstrated some of
those tragic,
sudden, unexpected,
unintended, and
practice altering
consequences that
can sweep
up on you
like a tsunami.

The focus in
the first half of
this article covered
diligence pertinent
to high school,
college, and medical
school factors. This
last half I want to
present to you some
very helpful ideas
about due diligence
covering medical
school and all that
follows in your
medical career.

It isn’t
something you hear
about rarely or at
all. But it has a
great deal to do
with the major part
of your medical
career and
the
ultimate success,
enjoyment,
satisfaction,
lifestyle, and
family relationships
you have while in
your
medical
practice.

Diligence advice for
selecting a place to
practice medicine...

Selecting a
place to start a
medical practice is
just as
important to
your medical career
as your passion for
practicing medicine.
Farmers plant crops
in the best soil
they can find for
good reason. It’s no
secret that the
harvest is
multiplied by doing
that. And there’s
one more important
ingredient, that of
choosing the right
seeds to plant that
grow best in that
kind of soil.

Taking this
simple lesson to
mind, every smart
doctor with an eye
to the future
understands that
their best soil to
plant their new
medical practice in
requires the
demographics that
enable
the
persistent
production of
harvested medical
patients
demanding
the special kind of
medical care that
that
physician
offers.

Unfortunately,
well over 90% of
medical doctors
start their medical
practices in places
that they “think” is
right for them,
that
is based on
emotional feelings,
family influences,
area conveniences,
educational
opportunities, and
etc.

The simple
business view about
medical practice
survival encompasses
having increasing
numbers of new
patients demanding
your medical
services from the
beginning of your
practice to the end
of your medical
career. And every
doctor at least
subconsciously wants
to avoid being
forced to move their
practice, sell it to
the local hospital,
or make major
alterations in their
medical practice
years later when
healthcare mandates
require it, such as
we see hitting the
medical
profession today.

In order to
give yourself and
your medical
practice the most
reliable and long
term supportive
conditions for
profitability and
growth, you can
either make it
happen using due
diligence or
let
circumstances run
your career for you.

The enigma
associated with most
doctor’s relying on
their “thinking”
rather than their
“doing” the right
business thing for
locating their
medical practice is
the result of the
lack of a
business
perspective that
comes to mind only
when you’ve had
a
business education
at the start.
Doctor’s just have
not been given the
ability to think in
business terms and
it results in
formidable
consequences for
most.

If you’re
lucky, you may
already be a
diligent person in
all
that you do. If
not, then you will
have to work at it
by practicing
diligence approaches
to all your medical
career decisions.
That way, you’ll
survive to smell the
roses. You might
even feel the
freedom to tear-up
your monthly social
security checks…
well that’s
a stretch.

What you were never
taught about due
diligence

About the
closest that most
people usually get
to practicing
diligence is when
they decide to buy a
house. Even there,
most
of the
diligence is done by
the real estate
agent showing you
the information. In
a sense the realtor
is your mentor.
Maybe, you could use
a mentor to help you
with your medical
business
decision making?

My clients
(physicians) seem to
believe it’s
important,
especially when they
lack the business
knowledge to put all
the important
factors into
understandable
decision-making
formats.

Physicians who
are most astute
about business
challenges
are those
older doctors who on
their own have
tested the
business
market by investing,
accumulation of
business expertise
over time, and other
kinds of business
ventures and
discover
how much
knowledge about
business they don’t
know and how much
they needed to know.

Interestingly,
most doctors don’t
seem to catch-on to
those nuances from
their own medical
office businesses.
Contacts with the
business world
outside their own
business seem to do
the trick.

But, let’s move
on to the practice
of diligence...
I’m probably
the primary example
of a physician who
traveled through all
those years in
medicine and in my
life without ever
applying a twit of
diligence. No one
ever taught me about
it or about the
consequences of not
using it routinely.
It was all emotional
decisions. If I had
picked up on that
myself, I likely
would not have
chosen to become a
physician. Or, it
could be a
supernatural guide.

We all seem to
have more than one
passion in life to
pursue if the
circumstances tilt
us in that
direction. You could
probably
could have
been successful in
several other
professions if you
think about it. Just
look at physicians
you know that quit
medicine and are
happy and successful
in other careers.

Anyway, giving
yourself permission
and time to do your
own diligence always
leaves one with more
confidence and
certainty. When you
choose a place to
practice you want it
to be a permanent
thing. However, the
massive changes in
the profession over
time and how it has
upended most medical
practices over
the
last 6 decades,
presents a very good
reason for every
doctor
to have a
backup plan for
their medical
career… just in
case.

Some important
diligent steps to
take when choosing a
practice
location...

Start
investigating
at least 5
different
locations
two or
three
years
before you
intend to
start your
medical
practice.
You
do
that
because
you have
time to
really
take a
close look
at each
one and it
gives you
time to
reconsider
the area
because of
your mind
changing
patterns
as you get
closer
to
the time
for
the move.
Opportunities
spring up
suddenly.

The areas
you have
chosen
should be
entirely
focused on
and about
your
practice
business
success.
If not,
then you
may set
yourself
up for
disappointment.
There’s a
reason
that
studies
have shown
that at
least 14%
of doctors
move their
practices
each year…
that’s one
in about 1
in 8
doctors.

Research these
important practice-success influences...

How many
physicians
in your
specialty
are
practicing
in that
area? If
you find
that there
are more
than 1 per
10,000
general
population,
it’s
likely you
will
snuffed by
the
competition…
but not
always.
Much
better to
start in
an area
with a
ratio less
sparse in
your
specialty.

Area
population:
Rural
areas may
fit your
desires,
but in
specialties
other than
primary
care, your
chances of
doing
well
require a
city
population.
Primary
care
doctors in
rural
areas
accept the
fact that
their
patient
flow,
practice
income,
and
patients
with
health
insurance
coverage
are at the
low
end of
the income scale.

The
reported
average
salary of
primary
care
doctors is
around
$80,000/yr.
Referrals
to
specialists
is
difficult
because
most are
100 miles
or so away
and small
rural
hospitals
are going
bankrupt
by the
thousands.

Cities are
the
locations
of most
specialists
for good
reason.
Even then,
the ratio
of doctors
to
population
is
important.

Healthcare
coverage:
You want
to know
that the
medical
patients
you are
servicing
can pay
their
medical
bills… or
at least
have
reasonable
health
insurance.
You look
at the
industries
and
companies
in the
area that
provide
health
insurance
for their
employees.
What’s the
primary
source of
income for
the local
population?

Hospital
facilities
and labs:
If you are
a
specialist,
you need
to know
that
hospitals
have the
equipment,
tools,
surgical
equipment,
and
laboratories
that fully
support
your
specialty,
unless you
don’t need
hospitals
in your
practice.

Referrals:
Call the
doctor
specialists
in the
local area
and ask
them about
referral
situations,
availability,
local
referral
habits of
doctors
there.
Since
about 60%
of
referrals
you get
are from
local
doctors,
it’s
important
for
you to
know.

Almost all
doctors
end up
referring
most of
their
patients
to one or
two
doctors
they like.
So, you
have an
opportunity
to break
into the
habit
pattern by
doing what
others are
not doing…
going out
of your
way to
entice
doctors to
send
patients
your way.
If you
don’t ask
them, they
won’t send
you
patients.
Take my
word on
that.

A
dynamic
patient
referral
program
you create
for
doctors to
refer
patients
to you is
a
fantastic
way to
build your
practice
faster and
earn a
higher
income.
Most
doctors
today have
no clue
how
important
this is to
do.

Overflow
referrals:
Long
established
doctors
often have
overflowing
numbers of
patients
they can’t
handle. By
calling
local
doctors in
your own
specialty
in the
area you
can
usually
find those
who will
refer you
patients
now and
then. Once
patients
report
back to
them that
you
treated
them
unbelievably
well,
you’ll get
a lot more
referrals
from them.

It’s
how I got
started in
private
practice
and was
exceedingly
helpful in
growing my
practice.

Real
Estate and
cost of
living:
Will you
rent
office
space and
what will
it cost
you in
comparison
to other
cities?
Will you
rent a
home or
buy a home
for you
family?
Knowing as
much as
you can
find out
will help
you decide
what to do
ahead of
time. You
can
compare
the 5
areas you
picked out
to
investigate.

Studies
have shown
that cost
of living
and
housing is
lowest in
the
Midwest
section of
the
country.
Less
medical
practice
competition
is another
advantage
of the
Midwest.

Net
incomes in
the
Midwest
are
greater
for
doctors
than
coastal
areas
of our
nation.

Research on family
factors and
amenities

The necessity
for making your
family life an
awesome experience
is of maximum
importance and must
fit into your and
their interests,
hobbies, education,
and etc. Divorce is
more common in
physician’s families
because doctors are
overly
involved in
their medical
practices and
earning more money.
So, having a way for
other family members
to have good
extractions that
sooth the mind is
advantageous.

Education:
School
systems
are not
all equal
in
quality.
Parents
need to
know that
their
children
are being
taught by
excellent
teachers.
Having a
college or
university
nearby is
always a
positive.
Parents
take night
school
courses,
spouses
can earn a
college
degree or
finish up
one they
started
elsewhere,
and having
your kids
attend
college
locally
saves
money and
worry, all
figures
into
making
everyone
happy.

Sports:
The
benefits
of
participating
in
sporting
ventures
can be
very
important
to
families
who love
to do
certain
things.
Skiing is
a sport
that
becomes
difficult
if you
live in
Florida.
Attention
to what’s
available
nearby
relating
to sports
may
be the
final
deciding
factor in
your
practice
location.

Travel:
Living in
a city
having air
travel
connections
nearby for
a family
that
travels a
lot is a
great
convenience
and time
saver over
the years.
Most
doctors
take a few
days off
to
travel
to medical
conventions,
for short
workshops
learning
new skill
techniques,
and other
educational
endeavors.
In
that
case one
can avoid
driving a
full day
each way
to and
from an
airport
which
allows two
extra days
for seeing
patients
that would
otherwise
be wasted
on travel.

Once you have
done this kind of
research on each of
the 5 potential
practice sites, you
should select the
two most favorable
sites and travel to
each, preferably
with your family.
Meeting up with a
few of the doctors
you had good
conversations with
previously on the
phone will establish
connections to be
used later.

That
meeting in person
does more for your
decision making than
a hundred phone
calls. You find out
facts that are never
discussed over the
phone and get a much
better feeling about
the community in
general.

When you settle
in the same city
where you trained,
the
whole process is
easier. You often
will have practice
offers and other
meaningful help than
you otherwise would
probably not
find at
a distant
location.

Diligence helpful in
decisions about your
practice structure...

This is
another instance
where one can start
a couple years early
to make some
preliminary
decisions about
whether you
want to
go solo, join a
partnership of one
specialty, or join a
group practice.
Starting the process
of looking for those
opportunities, doing
interviews, and
getting a feel about
your comfort level
within the framework
that is already
functioning
is
mandatory.

Working solo to
start is often a
better approach for
several very good
reasons...

You have
the
opportunity
to make
all the
decisions
yourself.
Groups and
partnerships
already
have the
rules they
abide
by
and you
then have
to be
compatible
with
working
under
those
rules.

When you
first work
solo, the
other
doctors
have a
chance
to
see how
you
practice,
how you
treat
patients,
know your
personality,
experience
your
quality
and
knowledge
about
medicine,
and can
judge how
you might
fit into
their
organized
group.

The
danger of
joining a
group to
start with
is that
you
don’t
get to
judge the
qualities
of the
doctors,
their
personalities,
and their
compatibility
issues
until you
have
already
joined and
committed
to their
ways.
Incompatible
personalities
make it
much
harder to
practice
medicine
with
because of
frequent
conflicts.

That
issue was
why I quit
my “call
group”
after 10
years with
them. We
voted on
bringing
another
doctor
into the
call group
and in a
couple
months he
and I
clashed,
verbally.
I quit the
group that
day. Three
months
later he
quit the
group and
moved back
to the
east
coast.

One
of the
other
doctors in
the group
had
developed
some rigid
ideas
about
delivering
my
patients
for me
when
he
was “on
call” for
the group.
So I did
not
re-join
the group
even
though I
liked them
all and
trusted
them all
completely.
I just
couldn’t
let the
one doctor
deliver my
patients
any
longer
when he
was on
call… his
C-section
rate was
about 50%.

Every
organized
group of
doctors is
unique in
most
respects.
Each has
their own
beliefs,
thoughts
about ways
medical
practice
should be
managed,
how the
leadership
of the
group is
established,
who
decides
what
should be
done and
how it
should be
done, and
how
responsibilities
of the
practice
are
assigned.

Because
they are
all
different
from each
other,
meeting
all the
group
members in
person is
mandatory
before
joining.
First
impressions
are most
often
correct,
but you
don’t have
the time
to learn
to know
and make
allowances
for the
one that
you are
concerned
about.
Join one
where all
first
impressions
are great.

Most
new
doctors
who join
are put on
a salary
and trial
period.
After a
year or
two, along
with
behavior,
you may
be
invited to
become a
full
partner,
or at
least get
an
appropriate
increase
in salary
on a level
with the
other
members.
Have your
own
attorney
review the
contract
with you
before
you
sign it.

Solo
practice
time first
shows
everybody
your
“stuff.”
It results
in the
weeding
out of
doctor
groups
that know
you would
not be
compatible
with their
group.

Sometimes,
you may be
offered an
apprenticeship
type of
practice.
You go
join an
established
doctor who
needs help
with his
large
practice
and are
given a
percentage
of the
gross
income
earned by
the
practice.
After a
year or
two,
you
can be
offered a
partnership
or move
out to
your
own
practice.

I
have seen
this work
very well
for new
doctors to
earn
enough to
pay for
starting
their own
practices.
As you
know,
doctors
finishing
residency
are
usually
broke
financially.
I did this
out of my
residency
as an
employee
of an HMO.

It
was a good
learning
experience
for me,
and a
lesson.
I
discovered
that I
hated
being told
what I
couldn’t
do in
medicine
and I
couldn’t
tolerate
shortchanging
my
patients
on a
routine
basis
which is
how HMOs
make
money. I
discovered
also that
certain
attitudes
commonly
found
among
employed
doctors
were
intolerable
to me to
be
around
all the
time.

Up to
that time,
I thought
I had
always
been the
most
tolerant
doctor on
that side
of the
Mississippi
River.
Finding
myself out
there in
the
practicing
side of
medical
practice
exposed me
to the raw
side of
medical
practice
that I
hadn’t
previously
paid
attention
to while
in the
carefully
guarded
behavior
of
academic
environments.

I’m
pretty
sure that
my
previous
recent
combat
military
tour with
the
Marines in
Vietnam
had
something
to do with
my
intolerant
attitude
towards
wise-guys
in
medicine.
You think?
Being spit
on by the
public who
were
against
the war
when I
arrived
home was a
real
surprise
for me and
other
soldiers
that
served
there.
That chip
on my
shoulder
is still
there to
some
extent
today. You
can’t hide
it, but
you can
suppress
it.

The
two year
trial run
of medical
practice
enables
you to
make much
better
decisions
about your
future
career
in
practice.

Using due
diligence in every
aspect of your
medical practice
is
what creates great
rewards in your
medical practice
because
it permits
close and deep
investigation of
every alternative
prior
to deciding on
the next step.

Goal
setting from the
small goals in the
beginning leading to
the one final
ultimate goal you
have for yourself
and your career
is
what enables you to
maintain your focus
clearly and continue
to excite your
passion along the
way.

Doctors who
disregard
appropriate
diligence are
everywhere...

Most are
physicians who have
a difficult time
making decisions for
themselves, yet have
no problem making
decisions concerning
diagnosis and
treatment their
medical patients. I
don’t know why that
happens. I do know
that it involves an
issue commonly found
in marketing
products.

It has been
proven that giving a
customer several
choices of
a similar
product to buy often
deters them from
buying any of
the
choices. In a study
on selling “Blue
Blocker” sunglasses,
when
only one
product is offered
there is a greater
chance that the
customer will buy
that product. Too
many choices,
alternatives, and
options confuse
people. Doctors
behave in the same
manner and have too
many options to
choose from I
believe.

The psychology
with this must
involve fear of
making the wrong
choice and suffering
the consequences so
they continue on
jumping during their
careers from one
goal or mission to
another. They remain
unsure and keep
looking for the
perfect opportunity.

This may also
contribute to the
cause why 14% of
doctors decide to
move
each year.

Of course,
there are many other
reasons for jumping
around, from
divorces to being
fired from your
medical employment
position. Some
doctors make all
decisions purely by
emotion,
quick and
definite, without
considering the
consequences of that
decision. It may be
because of their
overconfidence about
being able to handle
any and all
consequences that
show up.

Regardless of a
doctor’s personal
reasoning about
decisions, decisions
made without due
diligence often lead
to some degree
of
medical practice
failure. It includes
things like
financial failure,
slipshod practice
management that
compromises patient
flow,
slow or no
growth of their
medical practice,
mental stress far
above the usual
stresses of medical
practice,
disappointment
with
their career, family
problems, and others
you can name.

The problem is
to get all
physicians to use
diligence more
often, more
thoroughly, and more
seriously for
themselves.
About
the only way I would
have learned that
tool would have been
when I was a
teenager and taught
to me by a person I
highly respected.
It’s a tool you may
want to teach your
own children.

Diligence is
something that
people must learn
the
importance of
and learn what it
can do for their own
benefit.
It is a
learned habit, not
related to
intuition.

Comments

If all medical
students actually
applied due diligent
attention
to their
eventual practice of
medicine, they would
be storming
the
office of the Dean
of their medical
school screaming for
formal business
education during
their four years
there.

Where are all
those medical school
education activists
that
are supposed to
be carrying signs
and parading on the
school grounds in
front of the medical
school shouting
educational
obscenities at the
top of their voices?

OK… my
imagination is
running out of
control today. But,
wouldn’t it be
fantastic if that
demonstration was
exactly what
the
Dean needed to push
for a decision to
provide a formal
business education
that he had already
had in mind?

Business
Nudges......

If your medical
practice is sick
from the lack of due
diligence, you are
not too late to
strike a course
towards using
diligence from here
on in.

Without having a
background in
business education
as most of you
don't, it's no
surprise that the
importance of a
business education
is the last thing on
your mind. But, as
you continue on in
your career you will
feel the sting from
the lack of that
knowledge more and
more.

It's not too late to
study business
principles by
reading what
business experts are
teaching about and
what is required for
true business
success in any
business. Only then
will you begin to
recognize what you
were never told nor
taught. Only then
will you understand
what you "don't
know" and should
have learned long
ago. The advantages
and potential for
using these ideas
even for one year of
medical practice
will astound you.

Join Me here....

In Every Issue

You lose money every
day
in your medical
practice if you have
not listened to what
I tell you to do.
Who else will tell
you how it
happens…..at this
price?

Profitable Practice
Tips

1.
Consider hiring a
medical scribe to
handle all of the
needs of the medical
bureaucracy.

2.
Begin marketing your
medical
practice....the
drugstores are now,
with their
mini-clinics venture
into healthcare
they are your
competitors.

Borderless Humor

"I
had a rose named
after me and I was
very flattered. But
I was not pleased to
read the description
in the catalogue: No
good in a bed, but
fine against a wall."
---Eleanor Roosevelt

Goals - Plans

Inspiration Time

"Do
we not all agree to
call rapid thought
and noble impulse by
the name of
inspiration?"

---George
Eliot

Views I Only Share
With My Friends--

What my medical
career taught
me.......Click Here...
and how it can help
you manage your
medical practice
business at the
highest level of
expertise.

Facts And Stats

1. From
2011to 2012 the
median hospital
price increase for
100 common service
types was almost 5%

2. New
painkiller, ZOHYDRO,
an extended
hydrocodone drug, in
court to reclassify
it on a level with
heroin.

3. California
attorneys are
pushing for a ballot
initiative Nov. 2014
to increase the cap
on medical
malpractice cases to
$1.1 million
dollars. The cap
since 1975 was set
at $250K.

What Your Kids
Are Capable Of…….

Insist on and help
your kids to become
assets....When you want to
understand
what your modern day
kids are capable of
and have the ability
to do,regarding starting a
business of their
own, then hit the
link below and give
yourself a dose of
inspirational
enlightenment.....

Protect
your practice using
the strategies in
this Ebook,
which contains the
keys to your medical
practice survival.
"How To Rapidly
Propel Your Medical
Practice Income To
Unlimited Levels In
6 Months"
Click Here
When you need expert
help and advice, and
when........

you
just
don't know where to
turn to get
honest and reliable
help with your
battle to fight the
external forces that
compromise your
practice revenue and
growth.

you
want to
improve your medical
practice
income dramatically
in a short period of
time.

you
prefer to find the
means to reach your
highest level of
practice income
and productivity.

you
demand effective and
reliable
means for preventing
the financial
collapse of
your medical
practice.

you
are determined to
find ways to
combat govt. fee
restrictions
that continue to
increase.

you
recognize that
what you are missing
in your medical
business are
implementation of
business principles
and marketing
strategies.

you
want to do it
yourself and
save a bunch of
money.

you
are sick and tired
of putting up with
what you are
being forced into
doing with
your practice to
stay afloat.

you
are aware that
no other physician
author is making any
effort to tell you
what to do and how
to do it effectively
to reach your
expectations you had
for your medical
career when you
started.

you
understand the
severity of being in
a business
without ever being
taught the business
knowledge to
run it profitably.

you
insist on having a
blueprint for your
medical practice
business that
provides every key
to your practice
success at the
highest level.